Love In 2014

Love in 2014 is no different than love was in 1420. Even then, what most people knew of love was professed to them - by poets and actors and those who seemed to know, to have been blessed in the wisdom and warmth of love.

To this end, love is like death - often alluded to and the subject of much speculation and dramatization in literature and on the stage - but only known by those who have experienced it. In the case of death, the reliable testimony of those in the know is unavailable. In the case of love, testimony is also unreliable.

For love is the most personal thing. And many don't know what it is - they've heard, they've been told, they can imagine it. But until one finds love - or love finds someone - he or she will never truly know what it is.

There is swooning to be sure. And desire of the mind and the flesh. There are palpitations and flushing of the skin and a weakness in the bones supporting the legs.

But there is also understanding. The deepest sympathies expressed in the silent squeeze of a finger. The greatest joys shared through a quick meeting of the eyes.

Stop searching for the love you've been told of. It doesn't exist. For while the story tellers and the lovers are not lying - they are only narrating their own love - and you will not find the same. Instead, open yourself. Shut down the voice in your head that judges others, that doubts yourself in the presence of others. For these are the things that will block love from finding you.

There are two great unknowable things in the world - a pair of overturned cards that everyone has unplayed in their deck. One is love. The other is death. Open yourself to others and write your own story - so that love may find you first.